Adopt-a-Dad

CHAPTER TWELVE

HOW COULD YOU fight a ghost?

There was no hope, and by the end of the following week, Michael decided he was going nuts.

This was some crazy situation, he thought grimly. All his life he’d run from emotional attachment, and now, here he was practically wearing his heart on his sleeve, and Jenny was holding him at arm’s length and flinching every time he laid a finger on her.

She was afraid. Afraid of him! Not of what he’d do to her. He knew her well enough to believe she trusted him. She was afraid of what she might feel if she let him close. So he’d walk into the room and she’d hug the dog or curl up on the end of the sofa with Socks between her and the world. Or she’d be out walking when he came home from some errand and she’d read a book after supper-or smile and talk him through his day, keeping the conversation casual, as if she were his best buddy instead of his wife!

And all the time there was this tiny glimmer of fear in the back of her eyes that drove him nuts. He wanted to take her in his arms and kiss the fear away, tell her it was okay, he’d never hurt her and he’d never make her feel she was tying him down.

Damn, why had he ever told her he didn’t want emotional commitment? But he had, and that-along with Peter’s ghost-was enough to make her run scared.

“SO WHAT’S UP, bro?” Garrett caught up with him the day he came back to work. He only had to look at his little brother’s face to know something was wrong. Michael looked strained to breaking point. “I thought you just had a week off.”

“I did.”

“You look like you’ve run a marathon.”

“Yeah, well, you try sleeping in the same house as Jenny,” Michael growled, and Garrett’s eyes widened.

“Hey, she’s some lady. I wouldn’t think you’d mind sleeping in the same bed as Jenny.”

“That’s just it.” Michael slammed his fist on his desk with such force that his new secretary gave a startled glance his way. “I wouldn’t mind sleeping in the same bed as Jenny.”

“Uh-oh.” Garrett grinned and rose lazily to close the door on the flapping ears outside. “I see. So sleeping in a different room is the problem. The lady’s almost nine months pregnant with another man’s child,” he said gently. “You need to give her space.”

“I love her, Garrett,” Michael said, and put his head in his hands and groaned.

Silence.

“You love her,” Garrett said at last, in a voice that sounded strange. Obviously he was having trouble taking this in.

“Yeah.”

“Well, that’s great.”

“Not when she doesn’t want me.”

“Heck, Mike, give her a chance. She must have so many mixed-up hormones pounding around right now. Dead husband, pregnancy, marriage…”

“You recommend patience?”

“Hey, I don’t know,” Garrett said, exasperated. “You’re asking me about women? Short of Lana and Shelby, I know nothing. They’re a breed apart. Ask Lana.”

“Ask her what?”

“What to do,” Garrett said unhelpfully. “Meanwhile, think of all the hearts you’ve broken in your time. It won’t hurt you to get a taste of your own medicine.”

“Gee, thanks.”

“Don’t mention it,” Garrett said expansively. “Now, why I came to see you…” He hauled a list out of his pocket and tossed it onto Michael’s desk. “Here’s a security check for you.”

“What’s this?” Michael picked the paper up and stared listlessly at the row of names.

“Possible parents. Shelby and I are working on it already, but we’d like you to give us a hand.”

He froze. “What the heck… I told you, I don’t want to know.”

“The girls do,” Garrett said. “Lana’s changed her mind since she married Dylan. Somewhere out there is our birth mother, Mike, and there’s a gut feeling among me and the girls that she’s hurting. We need to find her.”

“I don’t.”

“Mike, you’ve held yourself in that icy cocoon for too many years,” Garrett said gently. “Jenny’s chipped away at the ice, and there’s warmth under there. While you’re waiting for her to come around, use the warmth for someone other than yourself. Maybe Jenny can teach you how.”

“Jenny!”

“Yeah, Jenny,” Garrett said firmly. “If Jenny hadn’t found you-if she’d ended up destitute-maybe she would have given up her baby rather than see it starve. And if she did, would the hurt of losing her child have disappeared after all this time? I don’t think so, Mike, and neither do you.”

“Garrett, I…”

“Just look at the list,” Garrett said firmly. “Talk to Jenny about it. See what she thinks.”

“It’s none of her business.”

“If you want her to love you, you have to learn to share.” He hesitated. There was real pain on Michael’s face, and Garrett didn’t want to push it, but if the ice was cracking, he wouldn’t be the one to withhold the sledgehammer. “On Saturday night there’s a party at Megan’s to welcome Camille and Jake home from their honeymoon. It promises to be a real shindig. Fireworks, everything. Now her family’s all settled, Megan’s feeling like she’s on top of the world, and she’s showing it every way she can.”

“I’m not coming to any family party. You know I won’t.”

“Megan’ll be disappointed if you’re not there, little brother,” Garrett said, and hauled his lanky frame out of the chair. “And if we’re talking of hurting people, there’s one lady you’ll leave untouched. Hurt Megan and I’ll dust you down before breakfast. Or give it my best shot.” He shrugged and pushed the list across the desk again from where Michael had thrust it back at him. “Do what you can with that by Saturday. And bring Jenny to supper at my place first.”

“Hell, Garrett, I-”

“Treat her like family, Mike,” Garrett said kindly. “Maybe the lady’ll get used to it. Maybe she’ll even like it.”

JENNYWASFEELING part of the family, and she did like it. Every day the feeling grew a little bit stronger.

Lana came around and sorted baby clothes with her. She helped Jenny make up the crib, talked baby talk, and taught her how to change and bathe little Greg.

Shelby turned up with offerings of food. “I know that brother of mine can’t do more than open a can of beans,” she explained, “and you shouldn’t be doing any more than cooking toast in your condition.”

Garrett kept dropping in-“Just to see how my favorite sister-in-law is doing”-making her feel warm all over. And Megan came, too, just to check. One by one, all the Maitlands, curious at first and then warm and friendly, arrived at her front door and embraced her into their fold.

It was all making her feel so guilty she couldn’t bear it. Every night Michael came home and looked at her with those hungry eyes, and she wanted to drop everything and run into his arms and let him hold her forever and forever.

But she mustn’t. Because one day Michael would wake up like Peter had woken up, and he’d be trapped. And like Peter, he’d be too honorable and proud to walk away.

I promise…

How easy it had been to say those words. She held her arms over her pregnancy and hugged her unborn child as she thought things through. She couldn’t keep her promise. Even for Peter, she wouldn’t hand her baby over. But at what cost to herself?

Oh, Peter…

“YOU WANT TO GO to a party?”

Saturday afternoon. Michael finished writing and looked over to where Jen was brushing Socks. Damn, every time he was in the room she was doing something. It was almost a defense.

She looked up, her eyes a question.

“There’s a party at Megan’s tonight,” he told her. “To welcome Camille and Jake home. Supper at Garrett’s first.”

“How about you go without me?” she asked, turning her attention to a nonexistent knot in Socks’s fur. “It’s family.”

“Yeah, it’s family, so everyone expects you.”

“I’m hardly family.”

“If you can’t go because you’re feeling too pregnant, then they’ll expect me to stay home with you.” Hell, they sounded so absurdly formal. It was as if they were strangers.

“Michael…”

“Come with me, Jen,” he said urgently. He hesitated, then passed her the sheet of paper he’d been writing on. “We’re discussing this. Please. I need your support on this one.”

She sat back and read the list, then stared at him. “Names and addresses. I don’t understand.”

“They’re all the triplets born in this state in the same year we were born,” he told her. “Garrett gave it to me this week. He’s trying to find our birth mother. So far, I’ve tried to locate every person who had anything to do with the triplets on this list. I’ve been finding their current names and addresses and whether any of them could possibly be us. I’m whittling the list down.”

She stared at him, then at the list. “You did this?”

“Yeah.” He colored. “Like I said, Garrett asked me to.”

“But you said you wanted nothing to do with finding your birth mother. Why now?” She grabbed a chair leg and hauled herself up from where she’d been kneeling on the floor. Michael made an involuntary move to help her, then pulled back. He knew by now what her reaction would be.

“Why?” she asked him again, her eyes not moving from his face. She knew this was important.

And it was.

“I’ve been watching you, Jen,” he said softly. “I’ve been seeing your pain at what’s happening. Even before your baby’s born, you’re being torn apart by what’s best for him. And maybe I’m seeing…” His voice died away as he looked at her.

“That what was best for you might have torn your own mother apart,” Jen said gently. “Oh, Michael.”

“Yeah, well, I haven’t found anyone yet,” he said gruffly. “But maybe I’m giving her the benefit of the doubt by trying.”

She looked at the list. “But…”

“Yeah, but! There’s maybes all over the place,” he told her. “Come to Garrett’s with me, and we’ll talk about it.”

How could she refuse an invitation like that?

THEY STOPPED downtown first.

“If you’re coming to the party with me, you deserve to wear something decent,” Michael told her.

“Then stop at the camping store,” Jenny said, half serious. “A tent’s all I’ll fit into. Three-man, at least.”

“No camping store. Lana told me where to go.” He closed his ears to her protests, pulled to a halt in front of an upscale maternity store and then proceeded to take charge, just as he had with the baby clothes. While Jenny muttered protestations about interfering males, he delved through one rack after another and finally found what he wanted.

“This,” he said firmly, and she stared.

It was gorgeous-a soft, gold silk maternity dress with a scooped neckline and no sleeves. It was gathered under the breast with white and gold ribbon, then fell away to just below the knee in yards and yards of gorgeous, silken folds.

It would look fabulous on a nonpregnant woman. On Jenny’s bulk, she wasn’t so sure. But the sales assistant and Michael propelled her into the fitting room and refused to let her out until she’d tried it on. To her surprise, the dress swirled around her in soft folds like a wondrous golden cloud. She looked maternal and serene and very, very lovely.

“You’ll be able to wear it after the baby’s come,” the saleslady assured her, staring into the mirror at Jenny’s reflection. “Oh, it’s just beautiful, and it’ll be perfect even after you get your waistline back.”

“I’m never getting my waistline back-I left it in England,” Jenny said darkly. “Michael, this is ridiculous. What a waste.”

“It’s not a waste, Jenny,” he told her, turning her by her shoulders to face the mirror again. “Look at yourself and tell me just how ridiculous you are.”

“Michael…”

“Just look.”

So she did, and what she saw made her stare. Sure, this was a maternity dress, but it was made for someone young and beautiful. It seemed to light her up from inside. It made her hair gloss around her face and deepened the blush on her cheeks. It made her feel…

It made her feel nineteen again. Young, beautiful, desirable. All the things that Peter had knocked out of her with his disparaging comments and his suggestions that she was inferior to the women who moved in his social circles.

Her lips twitched involuntarily into the beginnings of delight, and Michael saw and smiled his satisfaction.

“You like it. That makes the pair of us. We’ll buy it.”

“Michael, it’s way too expensive.” But her protest was feeble.

“All the better to waste my money on. Come on, Cinderella. Let’s head for the ball before your pumpkin escapes from under there!”

“It’s a funny thing.” The saleslady laughed as she took Michael’s money. “Nearly every time I sell a maternity dress this close to term, the woman comes back later-and thinner-and says the baby arrived almost right away. It’s like a lucky charm. I wonder if it’ll happen this time?”

“It had better not,” Jenny said, startled, and she glared at her bulge. “You hear that, pumpkin? You stay right there.”

“Come on, then, Cinderella,” Michael said, and grabbed her hand. “Let’s go. Midnight’s coming up fast.”

IT WASN’T quite a ball, but it might as well have been for the enjoyment she had. Supper at Garrett’s was fun. The whole family made her feel welcome, and although Jenny felt more and more like she was being drawn in out of her depth, there was no way she could not enjoy herself. They were so happy-Lana and her Dylan, big, kindly Garrett and possessive Shelby, who’d checked Jenny out from every angle and decided she’d share this precious brother of hers.

The mood was lighthearted, but there was also the hint of suspense-a suspense that ended when Garrett said over coffee, “Okay, Michael. What have you got for us?”

Michael hauled out his list and showed it to his three astounded siblings.

“Michael,” Shelby breathed, staring at the names on Michael’s list. “You agreed to help?” She gazed at him in total astonishment. “Why?”

“Something Garrett said,” Michael replied baldly, and Garrett nodded. He smiled at Jenny.

“So it’s thanks to you, Jenny,” Shelby said.

“I had nothing to do with it,” Jenny retorted, flushing under their gazes. “What Michael decides has nothing to do with me.”

But it did, and they all knew it. The three siblings took in her flushed appearance and Michael’s scowl, and they all came to the same conclusion.

“You might as well look at the list I’ve made,” Michael said finally, breaking the silence, “instead of sitting there and looking so smug.”

“They all check out,” Lana said, after sifting through the list of names. “I mean, you’ve traced them all except for these.”

Michael had worked on every set of triplets and tried to research the parents’ names, as well. He’d also attempted to find an adult contact from each set.

The one family he’d reached so far had splintered. The mother had gone one way with the girls, the father had gone another with the boy. Michael had managed to locate the son-in prison.

“Ugh, I’m glad that’s not you, Mike,” Shelby breathed. “A mugger. Just what every family needs.”

“I may be driven to it yet,” Michael said. “Lord knows I’ve come close enough with you guys for siblings. Or even murder. Justifiable homicide if ever I saw it.”

He was hit with a cushion for his pains, but Shelby only had half a mind on what she was doing. Her attention was on the list again.

“What about this last one?”

“None of these might fit,” Michael warned. “We could have been brought here from out of state or over the border.”

“There’s not a lot of Mexicans with our coloring,” Shelby retorted. “There’s Irish blood in us somewhere. But you’re right. Another state’s a possibility. Still, our mother had to have known Megan’s reputation to have left us where she did, so chances are she was local.”

“LeeAnn and Gary Larrimore,” Lana read. Michael had duplicates of the list, and she was leaning against Dylan’s shoulder as she read. “Two girls, one boy. Triplets born April twenty-sixth.”

“The date makes it about right.”

“And you can’t find any trace of the adults?”

“No.” Michael frowned. “Now the out-of-state thing comes in. If it is them, if they’re us, then the family must have moved here close to the birth.”

“Why?”

“Because there’s no trace of a Garrett Larrimore registered as born in Texas in the two years before the triplets were born. I assume our mother wouldn’t have registered our births-which explains why there’s no trace of us-but Garrett’s got to be somewhere. So maybe this LeeAnn and Gary had their triplets here and then took their babies home again. To California. To Canada. To anywhere. The hospital records are useless for that sort of information. I’m doing a national search, but it’s not in yet. The only thing is…”

“Yes?” He had the attention of everyone in the room.

“After I found the records of the triplet birth, I did a search for births and deaths of Larrimores for the surrounding few years, looking for Garrett, mostly, but checking anything that came up.”

“And?”

“And a Gary Larrimore, aged twenty-eight, was killed two months before this lot of triplets were born.”

SILENCE.

The Lord children were deathly still, and Dylan and Jen sat on the sidelines and watched them absorb this momentous news. Even baby Greg was quiet.

“You mean…” Lana was the first to gather herself. She lifted Michael’s piece of paper and read, as if she could see something that wasn’t written there. “Our birth father…died?”

“It may not be us. This is all supposition.”

“But that would explain it,” Lana breathed, horrified. “Oh, that poor woman. To have a little boy two years old and to be told you were expecting triplets! And then to have the man you love be killed. Do we know what happened?”

“I found the local coroner’s report,” Michael said. “He was thrown off his motorcycle. The coroner said it was raining and his tires were bald.”

“So he was poor!”

“We’re assuming all sorts of things here,” Garrett said hastily. “We’re jumping to conclusions.” But then he paused and frowned, as if remembering things almost against his will. “You know, that’s one thing I remember. There’s hardly anything, but occasionally-it’s like a shadow, but it’s there. A motorcycle.”

“You remember a bike?” Mike demanded.

Garrett shook his head. “I think I do. As I said, it’s a shadow of a memory, but there was never a motorcycle after we were adopted. I guess… It probably means nothing.”

“But it might mean something. And there’s no trace of LeeAnn Larrimore after she left the clinic,” Michael told them. “She seems to have vanished without trace.”

“So we find her.” Shelby’s eyes filled with tears. “Right?”

Michael put up his hand in warning. “Shelby, we have to eliminate the other names on the list. We can’t just focus on one. We still have contacts to make in four sets, including the Larrimores.”

“You know I’ll help you, Michael,” Shelby said. “I’m due for a vacation and I’d be happy to do some out-of-town legwork.”

Michael nodded. “Just give me a little more time to get as many specifics as I can. But it may take a while, so you’ll all have to be patient.”

“But you’ll keep trying?” Shelby asked.

Michael’s gaze moved to Jenny, and his eyes fell to the gentle swell beneath her gorgeous dress. His mother-whoever she was-had once been like this. So pregnant, and not pregnant with just one babe. Pregnant with three, and with another tiny child dependent on her.

He had no choice.

“Yes. Of course I will.”

“Oh, Michael, you’re wonderful,” Shelby said, immeasurably moved. “He’s wonderful, isn’t he, everybody? Isn’t he, Jenny?”

“I guess he is,” Jenny said in a voice that was none too steady. “Just wonderful.”

AND THEN, individually or in pairs, they made their way to Megan’s party. The night was unusually sultry. A storm was coming, Jenny thought as they drove across town. She hoped it would hold off for the evening. She was tired, aching to go home to bed if the truth be known, and her back hurt, but she wouldn’t keep Michael from his party.

“You okay?” Michael asked as they arrived, worry in his voice, but she smiled her reassurance.

“Come on, Michael Lord. No chickening out now. Your family tells me you’re not the best at socializing. So let’s see you do your worst!”

THE PARTY was in full swing when they arrived. There seemed to be couples everywhere, spilling onto the lawns and dancing inside to the tune of a piano player tinkling in the drawing room. The place looked wonderful, lit up like Christmas.

“Megan’s daughter Anna will have done this. She’s a wedding planner, and parties are her specialty,” Michael told Jenny, taking her hand and leading her into the throng. “Megan’s family seems to have spent the last twelve months matchmaking. Megan’s been through some pretty traumatic times, but now she’s feeling like partying. Anyone you haven’t met yet you’ll be meeting tonight.”

“Michael, this isn’t… I mean, you don’t need to introduce me as if it’s forever.”

“Treat it as fun,” he told her. “Nothing more. Megan’s told them what’s happening. They all know what’s between us is not a real marriage.”

Did they? That wasn’t the way they greeted her. Jenny was met with warmth and welcome, and she grew quieter and quieter as the evening proceeded. And more worried. So many things were being assumed, even by Michael.

“You’re tired,” Michael said in concern at about eleven, and she nodded. Her back was hurting, with low stabbing pains, but Michael was more animated than she’d ever seen him. This was obviously an important night for Megan, to have all her family here, and Michael was having fun, too. She wouldn’t spoil it.

“I can sleep tomorrow,” she said.

“We can go home if you want.”

“Soon. Not yet.”

“It’s raining cats and dogs outside now,” Garrett said, coming up to them with Megan on his arm. “I’d wait until it eases before going anywhere. There’ll be roads flooded all over. Jenny, can I have this dance?”

“Who me, dance?” She managed a smile. “I need a partner with a pit instead of a stomach, to fit my big bump.”

“I’ll be your pit,” Michael said, elbowing Garrett out of the way. He smiled into her tired eyes. “One slow dance and then we’ll go home. One dance-just for us.”

“Michael…” Garrett made to object, but Michael shook his head.

“Sorry, Garrett,” Michael drawled, and drew his wife into his arms. “The lady’s taken.”

“HE LOVES HER,” Megan said in satisfaction as Michael led Jenny out to the dance floor. “Finally. After all these years he’s fallen for a woman who has a heart.”

“I just hope to hell she can learn to love him, too,” Garrett said slowly, watching his brother take Jenny and lead into the first few steps. “She’s had bad times in the past. There’s a sadness in her eyes.”

“Yes.” Megan’s brow creased thoughtfully. “She looks…”

And then she paused.

Because so had Jenny. She stopped dead on the dance floor, and her eyes flew wide in agonized surprise.

“Jenny!”

Michael’s exclamation of concern drowned out the sound of the soft piano as Jenny stumbled. His strong hands, already entwined around her waist, caught her as she sagged downward. “Jen?”

“Michael, I…”

“What is it?”

She gasped. Her knees had given way beneath her, and she would have sunk to the floor if he wasn’t holding her.

“Take-take me home, Michael,” she managed to say. “Or the hospital. Please. Oh, Michael, I think the baby’s coming.”